Organizational Culture Analysis: Health Systems Lab

1. Organizational Culture Analysis:Health Systems Lab Jenna Marquard September 1, 2005

2. Why a Culture Analysis? • Aid in understanding an organization’s culture • Pinpoint areas for improvement • Create tension for change • This was a self-assessment

3. What Did we Look at? • Visible Elements • Shared symbols • Rituals and ceremonies • Heroes • Stories

4. What Did we Look at? • Hidden Elements • Values • Norms • Beliefs

5. What Did we Look at? • Functions of Organizational Culture • Providing a sense of identity for members • Guiding and controlling behavior • Enhancing cooperation • Guiding decision making • Enhancing commitment • Providing justification for behavior

6. Methods • Survey • Internet survey tool called “SurveyMonkey” • Link to the survey sent via an e-mail • Anonymous responses • Documentation Review • Use of data within the lab • Guidelines for lab-related travel • Resource guide for Health Systems Lab members

7. Visible Elements • Academic Landmarks • Work Products • Logos • “Write a Paragraph” • Post-docs and Past graduates • Fellow members who have accomplished something significant • Leaders: authors, researchers, departmental figures • Stories of trouble: to learn from, to reassure • Personal life stories and small talk • ‘How-to’ and ‘How-not-to’ stories • Landmarks: graduations, semester completion, accomplishments, a student leaving • Work-related: retreats, lab meetings • Values: what members feel is important to acknowledge

8. Visible Elements • Rituals and ceremonies identified as used most often • Although rituals and ceremonies are not daily occurrences, they may have a larger impact on organizational culture • With a good deal of work done independently, elements of organizational culture that bring members together may be seen as more beneficial • Symbols identified as used least often

9. Hidden Elements • Work Products: grants, publications, research, etc. • Training: activities during training program • Feedback: learning to give feedback to, and receive feedback from, colleagues • More senior students passing on knowledge to newer students • Attendance at lab and project meetings • Providing feedback and contributing • Acting in a scholarly and ethical way • Specific behaviors are not heavily regulated

10. Hidden Elements • Values were the most clear hidden elements • Values mentioned by lab responses can be translated across research institutes • Academic works, such as publications or presentations, for instance, are universally valued in the research world • The lab sees those who have been successful in terms of our values as heroes • Norms were the least clear hidden elements • Where independent thought is valued, individual behavior may be less regulated

11. Functions • Set examples for each other • We do not ‘control’ each other • Feedback is given on research decisions • Guide what is worth spending time on • Commitment to research • Commitment to each other • The lab is ‘give and take’ • We are a tight community • Provides belonging • Provides lab roles • Being a part of this specific group: Patti’s lab has clout on and off campus • Provides a source of feedback • There is little of this • Feedback from the group may be used to justify some behaviors • We work in project teams • We provide feedback to each other • Patti advocates collaboration • There is a lot of informal talking, sharing ideas, sharing stories

12. Functions • Survey respondents rated organizational culture as having the largest influence on providing a sense of identity for members, enhancing cooperation and enhancing commitment • Aligns with clarity in organizational values • Guiding and controlling behavior, guiding decision making and providing justification for behavior were rated as least influenced by organizational culture • Aligns with lack of clarity in organizational norms

13. Conclusions • The culture of the lab is a translation of research organizations in general • The lab values and sees success in a similar framework as other researcher organizations, through specific outputs such as publications and presentations • They find heroes in those who have been successful in these areas • Like other research organizations, the lab does not tend to regulate behaviors as long as the values of the lab are attended to

14. Recommendations • Using additional symbols by more formally recognizing the importance of non-career-related acts (mentoring, logistics, website) • Broadening the scope of success to value other heroes (ethical behavior, contributions to the community, etc.) • Using stories in a more structured way as a learning tool